


Valiant Survivor

by saltwatersweets



Category: Henry Stickmin Series (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Grief, Survivor Guilt, Valiant Hero Ending | VH (Henry Stickmin), Wakes & Funerals, a few characters are mentioned but not gonna tag them, how to NOT deal with grief by henry stickmin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28025163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltwatersweets/pseuds/saltwatersweets
Summary: It's strange how things turn out. Just a week ago, he was trying to comfort Charlie through the loss of Henry, telling him it wasn't fair, but this was exactly why they had joined the government in the first place, to make sure that life could be fair for everyone, all while quietly seething at the horror of the situation himself.Now, he's filling paperwork for Charlie with a tired mind and trembling hands, already dreading the idea of - oh god - having to tell hisfamily,all while Henry refuses to leave his house, and hasn't spoken to anyone since he and Charlie left to go on the damn mission in the first place.Galeforce has to confront and comfort Henry after Charles' death.
Relationships: Charles Calvin & Henry Stickmin, Charles Calvin & Hubert Galeforce, Hubert Galeforce & Henry Stickmin
Comments: 7
Kudos: 62





	Valiant Survivor

**Author's Note:**

> wrote this all in like... two hours after someone started talking about dadforce (ty to that person btw!) on a discord server so please excuse any errors haha. also please read the tags!! stay safe everyone <3
> 
> anyways i really have to stop posting fics in the middle of night oh my god this is like the millionth time /lh

Galeforce didn’t want to admit how much he really cared about Henry. 

It's not like he was embarrassed about it or anything. Henry has truly bloomed into something- some _one_ special with proper care and the right guidance, but this outcome hadn't been what he had expected when they first met. He'd heard of Henry a month or so after the Tunisian Diamond was stolen, knew he could make an excellent worker with the proper listening abilities (and the proper blackmail), but never thought he would have stuck around. And then Henry started to work alongside the government, and he saw how much Charlie started to care for him.

It was no secret that Charlie didn't have many friends. Sure, he got along well enough with their group, but being the youngest pilot they've got - as well as fairly childish and a bit naive, all things considered - it made things a little... hard for him in the social department, not to mention how unintentionally awkward he could be. It was no fault of his own, yes, but Charlie wasn’t taken all that seriously by his coworkers, and Galeforce felt like a father watching his child sit alone at lunch at times. 

So when Charlie became friends with Henry, well, he wasn’t sure what he should be feeling more: pride, or worry.

On one hand, he was happy that Charlie was finally making a friend, not to mention someone in his general age range. There were a few younger guys working in the military, but they either didn't take their jobs seriously enough or took them a little bit too seriously for the pilot’s taste. 

On the other hand... Henry was a criminal. A criminal he himself had wanted to give a second chance, sure, but... He didn't know if he could trust him. Henry wasn't really the type to confide in anyone, and Galeforce has only ever seen the kid hang around with Charlie, but anyone could tell he's been stealing for a while, years upon years of illegal activity. And Galeforce knows that old habits die hard, and at any point he could run off to go back to what he's always known. He can’t believe in him completely, not yet.

It's only after Henry saves Charlie's life on a mission, pressing down on a ricochet bullet’s wound to make sure he didn’t bleed out, that he decides to fully trust him.

After that, frankly, he finds his past self rather dumb for ever looking at the efforts Henry made and finding some excuses to convince himself it was all an act. He was an excellent judge of character, after all, he can tell that Henry was genuinely trying to appeal to them and become something new. It was wrong of him to refuse to look at the ex-criminals past life and judge him on his yesterday. Henry was trying, and Charlie was happy, and that’s what really mattered.

And then Henry disappeared, and everything went to shit.

It took him a while to even notice that anything was wrong. Henry hadn't shown up for one or two days, yeah, but it was hardly any cause for concern. It was entirely possible he'd just gotten sick, or had important personal business to attend to. The third and fourth days rolled around, and only then did they began to grow worried. Henry had a phone, and at least knew Charlie's number, but hadn't so much as even texted. No one had seen him since he stopped showing up. The fifth day came and went, and still no sign of the kid.

By the time a week had passed with no one hearing from him, it had been generally assumed that he had reverted back to a life of crime, and left them all behind. 

Galeforce didn't believe it for a second.

He could tell Charlie didn't either, what with how he hadn't deleted Henry's number, hadn't even looked so much as a little betrayed, and kept scanning the base as if searching for his friend. It was as endearing as it was kind. The others, though, weren't as trusting. Price, who had only just begun to start warming up to the ex-criminal, acted even more stern and uptight than usual, his no nonsense attitude coming back in full force. The twins looked upset for a few days, and took their jobs far more seriously than usual. Even so, Galeforce couldn't believe that Henry had left them behind. He had been keeping close tabs on him, yes, to make sure nothing happened, but more than that he trusted him.

Well. He was right.

He gets the official news that Henry was killed while trying to escape The Wall over two weeks after his disappearance. 

Charlie is so distraught that he doesn't show up to work for nearly three days.

(He can't help but blame himself. If he had kept a closer eye on him, if they had just come looking for him instead of waiting to see him again, if they hadn't _left him behind-_

Then he might still be alive.)

The Toppats manage to launch their orbital station, and honestly, the entire last few weeks have just kept getting worse. 

He doesn't think there's ever been a time in his whole career where he's felt more relieved than when Charlie comes back after a mission and shows him Henry's alive and well.

They go on a personalized mission to take down the Toppats from the inside a few hours later. For such a large task, he'd typically send more people, but he fully trusts Charlie and Henry to be able to complete the mission. Despite being two of the youngest and, in one of their cases, most inexperienced members of the government, he's seen them in action and knows they shouldn't have too much trouble bringing down the Toppat station. They can count on each other, after all.

(Later, he wonders if he should have sent more agents with them, maybe then Charlie would be okay, maybe then it all would have worked out and he wouldn't have to feel yet another crushing loss of a fallen ally.)

It's strange how things turn out. Just a week ago, he was trying to comfort Charlie through the loss of Henry, telling him it wasn't fair, but this was exactly why they had joined the government in the first place, to make sure that life could be fair for everyone, all while quietly seething at the horror of the situation himself. 

Now, he's filling paperwork for Charlie with a tired mind and trembling hands, already dreading the idea of - oh god - having to tell his _family,_ all while Henry refuses to leave his house, and hasn't spoken to anyone since he and Charlie left to go on the damn mission in the first place.

He lets the Calvin family be in charge of planning the funeral, and absolutely refuses to allow Charlie to become just another grave on the side of the road, like the kind he used to ask his parents about when he was just a boy. He cannot allow Charlie to be remembered as just another soldier. He was someone so much more than that. He was a hero, and everyone should know it. 

Henry shows up to the funeral. It's the first time he's seen the kid for nearly two weeks, and god, does he look every bit the mess that Galeforce feels like. His hair is halfheartedly brushed and messy, his eyes look exhausted, and his clothes are even baggier than normal. Galeforce’s heart twists in empathy as he recognizes the blue jacket he's wearing as something Charlie had given him as a gift, soon before Henry was taken to The Wall. 

Most of the other people at the funeral are wearing black, and as for Charlie’s coworkers from the government, wearing their uniforms. Henry is the only one dressed in what must be day-to-day clothes, but everyone must know that those clothes are the most personal thing he must have right now, or they just can take in his completely shattered appearance and know not to push it.

Oddly enough, once the ceremony is over, it's not the Calvins that stay at the sight afterwards, but Henry who quietly asks if he can stay, just so he can actually, truly get to say goodbye. The Calvin family goes off to their respectful houses around the area, and Galeforce gets into his car. Instead of leaving immediately, however, he stays and keeps his eyes trained on Henry, just to make sure he's alright.

In the distance, Henry salutes with a shaky hand, before dropping his arm back to his side limply. He stays there, just staring at Charlie's grave for what must be a few minutes. Just as Galeforce turns the key to start his car, Henry's knees buckle. He collapses and lands hard on the ground, arms curling around himself as his body trembles with grief, as his entire being shudders with what can only be sobs that completely tear through his chest.

Galeforce leaves him. He's taken away enough of the kid’s privacy for one day.

Of course, he was a fool to believe that it would all work out. He doesn't know why he thought Henry could just bounce back. Hell, he himself has been having a hard time with all this. It never is easy to have to move on from a fallen soldier, but Charlie was... Galeforce had considered him like the son he'd never had.

And Charlie had also been the first person to truly believe in Henry in the whole government.

He doesn't know why he thought Henry could just bounce back.

He doesn't show up to work for another week. He's called him, texted him, and Henry's always responded with _something,_ just to let him know he was alive and free, just so it wouldn't be a repeat of last time. But Henry still doesn't show up for a week, and Galeforce is worried.

So, here he is, nine PM at night outside Henry's house in the cold. He rings the doorbell, and waits.

And waits.

And uh. Continues to wait.

He rings it again. And again. It takes nearly three minutes, but Henry finally opens the door, looking somehow even more exhausted than he had at the funeral. Even so, his eyes grow surprised as he sees the general right outside his door. 

"May I come in?" Galeforce asks, and gives Henry no time to answer before hes already walking into the house.

It's... a lot messier than he expected. Dirty laundry is strewn across the floor, couch cushions are out of their place, and theres a heaping pile of blankets on the couch. 

Honestly, he really shouldn't have expected the kid to be put together like the others were. He never had the training to deal with such a loss. It was clear that Charlie was his closest friend, and now that he was gone, with no support system he'd set up for himself, no experience to ever caring about someone enough to truly lose them, Henry seems to be falling apart at the seams.

Galeforce sighs, and, after moving the pile of blankets to the floor, sits down on the couch. He looks at Henry and invites him over by patting the area of the cushion next to him.

Henry looks at him in confusion, and a bit of astonishment, but nonetheless sits down beside him. Galeforce thinks about putting his hand on the ex-criminal’s shoulder, but decides against it.

"So." he begins.

Henry answers with silence and a refusal to look him.

"You have a reason why you haven't been showing up to work?" Henry still is looking away. "Or have you just decided to use all your vacation days and then some right now?"

"...It doesn't matter." Henry finally says, looking away from him like a sullen child. (And when did his fatherly comparisons shift from Charlie to Henry? It seems to natural to think of him like that...)

Galeforce sighs. "We've been missing you, y'know. We-" he takes a deep breath- "We've already lost someone. We don't want to lose you too." Henry looks even further away. "Charlie would want-"

 _"Don't."_ Henry says, and Galeforce is taken about by the icy cold anger in his eyes. He takes one breath, two, three. "Don't you _dare_ tell me what Charles would want. He would- he would want to be _alive."_

Galeforce wracks his mind for the right words to say. "Then look at it this way." He finally decides. _"We_ want you back."

Henry flinches as if struck. "You won’t."

"Why not?"

"You already know, don't you? Everyone else does. You’ve heard the official report." The young man laughs, but it holds no humor. "I'm the one who killed Charles."

Galeforce freezes. Not out of shock or betrayal, but because that's not at all what happened.

"He jumped out to- to save _me."_ Henry gasps out, looking like the fact that Charlie was a hero is not a good thing, like he should have just stayed in the escape pod and leave Henry to deal with the Toppat on his own. "He never would have done it if he'd known what would happen, but he- but he did do it, and now he's- _he's-"_

The word _dead_ hangs in the air, completely silent but deafening to them both.

Ah. So it’s survivor's guilt, then. Galeforce isn’t really surprised, it was common among those who worked in the government.

"Charlie made a choice." The general says, because although he cares for Henry, he knew Charlie well enough to know that he would save Henry a million times no matter the outcome for himself. "He _wanted_ to save you."

"How can you _say_ that?!" Henry yells, voice cracking, finally fully looking at him. "Why would he want to- to- to do that? I hadn't- I was just some- He couldn't care that much! No one could!"

"You didn't see him when we thought you were dead." Galeforce says sadly, and Henry becomes suddenly quiet. "He was so upset- it took him days to even get out of the house." He sighs. "You know he blamed himself, too? Because we couldn't save you?"

"But... but why would he..."

"We _care_ about you Henry. And he did too." Galeforce stood up and kneeled before the ex-thief, placing both hands on his shoulders in an effort to get him to understand. "Trust me when I say that Charlie _wanted_ to save you."

Henry doesn't respond. The general walks up to the door, not quite opening it yet. "I'm not going to force you to come back. That's your choice, not mine. It’s not uncommon for workers in the line of duty to resign after the loss of a friend. But please, don't blame yourself. Respect Charlie's choice. I know he'd want _that_ , at the very least."

He looks at the communicator Charlie had given Henry soon after he became a government worker, a little post-it with the words _"from Charlie :)"_ still pressed onto it. He smiles, sad and bittersweet and fond. 

He opens the door, but before he leaves, he says, "And, just so you know, I loved him too."

The door behind him clicks shut.

* * *

(Henry shows up to work three days later, showered and with clean clothes. It's a start. And it's all they can hope for right now.)

(And now, the only thing Galeforce feels is pride.)

**Author's Note:**

> this one's a short one, but i really wanted to try my hand at vh henry dealing with survivor's guilt. it's an understandable but ultimately incredibly unhealthy way to deal with grief. galeforce is right: charles made a choice to save henry, and i truly believe he would have made that choice a million times if it meant henry would be ok. he knew the risks of working in the government, and as tragic as his death was in vh, i don't think he would have really changed much, if his life being spared would have costed henry's. then _he'd_ be the one feeling guilty; not only did he fail to save henry from being stuck on the ship, but his "greatest plan" was the reason the ship exploded in the first place. it wouldn't work out well for either of them, and i'm sure that he didn't want to die, but he probably would rather he die than henry. he's someone entirely kind like that.
> 
> speaking of charles, galeforce telling henry to respect charles' choice to save him is both reflective of how charles' coworkers are implied to treat him, and my personal word to some of the fandom that i've seen. in universe, i don't think being one of the youngest pilots really help charles to be taken seriously. i've seen a few fics where charles is often seen as a kid by his coworkers (LOVE that headcanon by the way!), and while it's true that he _is_ young, he's still a full grown adult capable of making his own choices. which leads me to my next point: how he's treated by the fandom. i've seen a pattern in many fandoms i've been in where they seem to choose a few characters and, for lack of better word, tend to baby them. the characters tend to be ones with mental health problems (depressed, anxious, ptsd, etc), adhd/autistic coded, aro and/or ace, and, in this case, kind.
> 
> because charles is an INCREDIBLY kind character. he trusts henry right off the bat in gspi. he offers to help him out in iro despite being on a mission at the time, despite knowing that he could be in more danger if he goes to rescue him. in pardoned pals/toppat recruits, he completely forgives henry for stealing the ruby, treating him more as an old friend than any sort of enemy. in valiant hero, he spends his last few moments telling henry that he'll be fine, that he's happy, because they did it. he's a kind person. 
> 
> but he's not a child. he does things that may fall against plenty of people's moral standards. he shows no qualms about killing a wall guard in ftc. he doesn't seem to worry about the toppats killed in rbh/gspi. in certain endings (pardoned pals being a prime example) he fully endorses blowing up the toppat's rocket, despite there being loads of people in there (the most worrying examples being hat girl, who is a child in her original game, and possibly dave, who isn't a toppat but an innocent prisoner). in vh, he willingly blows up an entire space station with what must be hundreds of toppats inside, despite being close/best friends with an ex-criminal. 
> 
> point is, he shouldn't be babied. his bio states that hes one of the most experienced pilots, and you dont become a government pilot without probably seeing some rough stuff. i love charles, he's one of my favorite characters, but he deserves to be respected just as much as other characters! just because someone is kind does not mean they are inherently childish and need to "grow up". i haven't seen too many people doing this nowadays, thankfully, but i still think it needs to be said.
> 
> anyways, to anyone who's happened to read and enjoyed my other thsc fic, 'retry', i'm sorry to say but it probably won't be continued until after the new year. it's going to be a very long chapter from what i've planned, and what with school being school and my participating in a secret santa... yeah, i probably won't be able to get it out in december. sorry
> 
> to close off this massive end note, i think i'll start recommending fics at the end of my fics. a lot of people in this fandom are talented and deserve more appreciation! my first three authors to recommend you check out are InediblePeriwinkle, NinjaGirlStar5, and VenomQuill. all three of them have excellent fics that delve into characters and their thoughts, and it's all worth your read. with that said, i hope you enjoyed this little fic i put together! :)
> 
> come chat with me on my [tumblr](https://saltwater-sweets.tumblr.com/) or my [twitter](https://twitter.com/saltwatersweets) if you want!


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